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| Cookie Monster and Darin Childs have a moment before the match Photo Credit: Texas Anarchy |
Highlights:
- Chingo del Santo wrestled in the first match in a taco suit, losing to a debuting Ken Carson in the process.
- The Lost Boys' Halloween costumes poked fun at CM Punk (Jason Silver) and Kevin Nash (Sky de Lacrimosa).
- Rachel Summerlyn ran in as payback on the Lost Boys for attacking her and Jessica James during the pre-show, helping to cost them their match against Team Sex.
- Jaykus Pliskin offered out a shit-talking fan before his match with Shawn Vexx.
- Vexx drilled Pliskin with five German suplexes, but Pliskin shrugged them off and clotheslined his god-damned head off for the win.
- JC Bravo retained his U-30 Championship in a six-person elimination scramble, only to fall victim to his friend Chingo in an impromptu challenge match afterwards.
- Angel Blue, dressed as Lady Gaga, defeated Barbi Hayden in a solid bout.
- Darin Childs killified Jeffrey Gant in a short ACW World Championship Match.
- Athena's promo was interrupted by an angry James, who were added to the following atomicos match.
- Evan Gelistico had James defeated with a tombstone backbreaker variation, but pulled her up from the pin attempt. Bolt Brady took advantage and got the quick pinfall to win the eight-man tag.
- Davey Vega threw everything at Scot Summers, but Summers had five brainbusters, two on chairs, to answer and retain his Televised Championship.
- Matthew Palmer brought back the Centerfold persona for his match with ACH.
- Palmer and ACH threw everything they had at each other until Palmer beckoned ACH to the balcony. When ACH got there, Palmer said "I quit" and jumped down, ending the match.
- ACH defeated a challenging Mat Fitchett in the aftermath.
- Portia Perez' mystery tag partner for the main event was JT LaMotta. Darin Childs' was Cookie Monster, who later unmasked to be Rachel Summerlyn.
- The Lost Boys chased off Summerlyn from the ring, drawing out a barefoot James to even the sides.
- LaMotta ended up eating a kick to the groin after forcibly stealing a kiss from Perez.
- Perez, distracted by a guy dressed as Rorschach in the crowd, ate a Fall from Grace by Childs for the loss.
- Rorschach unmasked to be RD Evans, who gave her the Unchained Melody and sang "Happy Birthday" to her to close the show.
General Impressions:
- I thought Silver would've totally trolled Punk better if he had dyed his hair blond and wrestled in basketball shorts.
- First noticed that ACW has the whole "no-DQ" vibe when Summerlyn came out to waylay the Lost Boys. I can dig that.
- Silver pretty much killed himself on a senton atomico miss onto a chair. Brutal stuff.
- Of course, he got himself killed even further on that assisted Beach Break Team Sex put him in to finish the match.
- I dug the Vexx/Pliskin match a lot, but I thought all those German suplexes should've ended the match.
- Outside of ACH though, Pliskin's got the best look to translate to the next level though.
- Referee dressed as Darth Vader smoking a cigarette was the best costume of the night until the main event.
- I dunno what was more impressive, that Slim Sexy's manboobs were bigger than most of the women in attendance or that he totally busted out a sweet Dusty Rhodes-bionic elbow. BICYCLE!
- Angel Blue didn't infuriate me as much as she probably infuriated Brandon Stroud (who was in attendance with his girlfriend Destiny right on the hard camera side)
- I really dug the lighting of the show in the daytime, but as it turned to night, things got a bit murkier (although not bad enough that it took away from the feeling of the show).
- I really dug Just Willie ramming Gelistico's head into each turnbuckle in the corner.
- Pierre Abernathy busting out the dick flick was probably my favorite moment of the whole match though.
- Major props to James for taking that screwdriver-tombstone-style backbreaker from Gelistico before the match finish. That was pretty stiff.
- I liked the psychology of Vega going after Summers' injured hand. I have to wonder whether it was a hardway bleed though.
- Vega took some insane bumps during this match. INSANE.
- Again, just like in Vexx/Pliskin, I thought the brainbuster spam was a bit excessive, but at least Summers finished him off after the fifth one.
- I really dug Palmer's Centerfold shtick, especially him tripping ACH up by posing in the middle of the ring.
- There was a sequence when ACH did a Matrix flip off the ring post, then ran right into Palmer putting him into the next ring post with a monkey flip. Probably my favorite sequence on the whole show.
- "I don't give a shit about you [the fans], I quit" -- Matthew Palmer, right before he pulled off the most surreal finish of the year.
- I would like to see what ACH and Fitchett can do with more than just a few minutes tacked onto a fuck finish to give the crowd a satisfaction of a clear finish.
- No lie, I was marking out when "C Is for Cookie" played on the PA.
- LaMotta only doing it so he could "score" with Perez was the most hilarious subtext of the whole match, especially given how much of a sourpuss Perez is in character.
- RD Evans singing "Happy Birthday" to Perez was an outstanding way to close the show.
Match of the Night: Match finishes are important to me. However, are they important in that they have to be decisive, or do they just have to be intriguing? I feel like if it works, it works, and there's no real criterion that will spit out a result scientifically to me. That's why Matthew Palmer vs. ACH was my match of the night. It had everything that I wanted as a wrestling fan. It was exciting, it had big moves, great selling, some good comedy, a sense for the moment and it built to a crescendo.
That being said, the crescendo, had I been there live, might have been a bit weaker than I had experienced it as a viewer at home. After the fact, I was able to appreciate the kind of heel dickery and trolling that Palmer had done by just walking out of the arena, giving ACH the match without giving him the satisfaction of pinning his shoulders to the mat. Being there though? I might have been saying "WHAT THE FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK JUST HAPPENED?" That being said, there's a certain amount of huevos that someone needs to have to be successful, and giving a finish like that shows those huevos.
Overall Thoughts: Overall, I thought it was a good show. It certainly wasn't as polished as some of the other higher end indies, but for a promotion that has adopted ECW's ethos with a Texas twist, I wasn't expecting slick production and great graphics. All I really could ask for is that the wrestling be good and the production be good enough not to impede my enjoyment of said wrestling. I got both of that. ACW has a lot of colorful personalities and that shone through not only in the wrestling, but in their commentary as they rotated in and out of the booth. Overall, they've left me wanting more, and that's the greatest thing a wrestling promotion can do.
Overall Results:
- Ken Carson d. Chingo del Santo
- Team Sex (Highroller Hayze and Johnny Axel) d. The Lost Boys (Sky de Lacrimosa and Jason Silver)
- Jaykus Pliskin d. Shawn Vexx
- JC Bravo d. Slim Sexy, Berry Breeze, Khris Wolfe, Killah Kash and Gregory James to retain his U-30 Championship
- Chingo del Santo d. JC Bravo to win the U-30 Championship
- Angel Blue d. Barbi Hayden
- Darin Childs d. Jeffrey Gant to retain his ACW World Championship
- Bolt Brady, Ricky Romida, Just Willie and Jessica James d. Pierre Abernathy, Gary Jay, Evan Gelistico and Athena
- Scot Summers d. Davey Vega to retain his Televised Championship
- ACH d. Matthew Palmer
- ACH d. Mat Fitchett
- Darin Childs and Rachel "Cookie Monster" Summerlyn d. Portia Perez and JT LaMotta
